Personal watercraft such as jet skis are a favorite with those who enjoy spending time around water. Their highly mobile nature coupled with their intimacy with the water make them extremely popular rental items as well. Much of their fun nature is derived from the fact that their propulsion is provided by a high-volume, high-pressure water pump which moves vast amounts of water thus allow for very fast and instantaneous speed. This water is drawn in through an inlet opening on the bottom of the watercraft and then passed through an impeller powered by the engine. As one would imagine, the impeller is subject to wear and replacement over time, often at considerable expense.
As such, manufacturers are on the lookout for new ideas and developments to help their product stand out from amongst the competition. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the impeller used on jet skis can be modified to address the above-mentioned concerns.
The elimination of a wear ring in a conventional watercraft, such as a jet ski, results in reduced maintenance and a higher level of reliability. In a conventional impeller design, the wear ring is a stationary part of the impeller housing. As debris is deposited between the wear ring and the propeller, the wear ring eventually wears out resulting in a loss of efficiency and/or cavitation.
Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in the powered watercraft impeller design art. Among these are found in: U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,558 in the name of Hall; U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,660 in the name of Fujio et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,866 in the name of Brandt. These prior art references are representative of cargo restraints.
The use of the impeller provides powered watercraft users increased performance and a higher level of reliability with regards to impeller performance in a manner which is quick, easy, and effective. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable impeller design, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.